Amazing breakdown, man. From what i can tell this is about his failed marriage (0 for 1, "i accidentally sawed a woman in half", amicable marooning), the relationship between him and his mother, and his relationships in general. The part that always gets me is the subtle change in the 'Oh.' each time. From surprised, to confused, to disappointed...
"who's there simian or lizard" in my mind is him fighting with his reptilian brain vs higher 'simian' brain. There's a conflict between a hedonistic, simple fight or flight type thought pattern vs the more human higher thinking brain
I've gone crazy over the "chorus" bits several times. All I know for sure is it hits me. There's the parenting angle, the loosing connection and trying to "get it out" angle, friends, lovers; there's the fact that he specifies each time that he is pulling them from their environment uninvited as opposed to just seeing them or them coming to him; there's the question of what the "oh" is for; there's the fact that he's talking to animals as opposed to someone who can understand his language; why those specific animals; all I know is I feel it in my soul. It's soooo fuqqing [insert adjective here I dunno, beautiful, haunting, stunning, I dunno]
That and much simpler... Expecations never meet. That is where I get the "Oh"... The natural realisation that goals... And all that "Encouragement" can put undue pressure on something or somebody. A pressure that they could never bear. Definitely right on the Parenting angle!
This is one I have a tendency to listen to when I'm drunk/in my feelings; can't tell you how many friends/family I play this for to let them know I love them, but still feel a disconnection from.
Around 8:25 "I don't forget spoons twice" could relate to the nursery rhyme he starts with "Great big gobs of greasy slimy gopher guts, and I'll I've got is a spoon."
It's worth noting that this song is said to be for his mother, and that he has two brothers (i.e., she has "pulled" three creatures from her womb). "Greasy grimy gopher guts" at its most abstract is just pure "boy" energy. Three boys. "Oh" is what the parent says after letting the child "go" to live their own life, which they never could have predicted.
This one was definitely on my list of things I wanted you to hear. I don't think it's the deepest or most difficult to analyze or anything like. But the writing really does pull attention to a more difficult part of Aes' life. Also love the visual imagery in the choruses. xD
Same, I love how this manages to be one of the most complex Aesop songs, and then you get to the breakdown it's just him speaking directly to you in plain, simple words in what is probably the most biting self-criticism I've ever heard in any rap song in my life. Something about that was just so powerful.
I actually love aesop rock funny enough my introduction to him was from lupe fiasco rapping aesop's verse from aesops song supercell as he's praised aesop as one of the best lyrcists on the game which got me into aesop ( also supercell is actually insane)
14:13 this entire song is really relatable to me tbh (& album... and discography), so my interpretation comes more out of my own experience but to me the "suicide lane..." feels like it's describing the pressure to keep up with what feels like speeding traffic on all sides while carrying a lot of emotional baggage (wide load), not exactly sure what ride looting means, other than perhaps feeling like he's being taken advantage of or "looted" but I imagine someone in the "suicide lane," under pressure to make a decision or move forward with life, and that pressure leads to an amicable marooning, or self-imposed isolation, which is amicable because that isolation relieves the pressure he was under - in a lot of ways isolation feels like a huge relief 21:23 an interesting element on the spoon theory discussion is that Aes has worked a lot of "menial jobs" (his words) and I don't know what that consisted of for him but you can hear that experience & his problems with work all throughout Labor Days and I can say from my own experience that the long term toll that labor can take on the body can cost a lot of spoons without really being visible at all, and that's compounded by not taking care of yourself (letting moonpies get moldy) 33:38 I don't think pirouetting innards is about a hangover specifically - I think it's more about his mental health broadly (I'm filtering this through my own experience - I don't want to imply that I actually know what he's gone through, I just relate to the lyrics) "you were sitting at the gate awaiting spirits and provisions" reads to me like seeing other people as having easy lives, at least comparatively, meanwhile Aes is held back by nausea and headaches, physical symptoms of chronic anxiety that can become debilitating in their own right, and the fact that that stops him from going out or being a "normal" member of society makes him question his own humanity (who's there simian or lizard) -- you mentioned sitting at the gate implying tailgate, that also fits with some of his other songs ('party over here, I'll be over there" - I think from dorks), that also kinda supports the anxiety read - he feels separated from people who tailgate and have loud parties, and he also feels like they have some special privilege he doesn't, hence the "holy gate" implications of the line "misanthrope vying for affection" is a really strong descriptor - he wants to love and care for people, but his behavior is misanthropic because of his emotional state and exhaustion and distrust towards other people to add a tangent to this very long TH-cam comment (sorry about that...), I'm autistic (probably would have been called Asperger's back in the day, but it's all under the same label now), and I don't want to assert anything about somebody else's brain, but I definitely see a lot of commonalities in his music, and I wanted to mention it because I think it really feeds into the social isolation that he talks about - for a lot of people who are intelligent and also autistic there's a sense of understanding and caring for the people around you but struggling to communicate and function in a normal social context I read the chorus sections as being about him trying to spread love and positivity in the world, but doing so through caring for animals because he doesn't know how to have that kind of relationship with other people. In the song "Hot Dogs" is the line "just not a people person please forgive me if I'm flustered // I'll save a thousand whales before your grits are even buttered" - he feels guilty for not being able to share his love with people, and animals could either be an alternative outlet for that love, or a stepping stone towards connecting with people, but I also feel like him caring for animals in the choruses represents his music - he doesn't feel like he can maintain the relationships in his life, but he can pick people up, put some inspiring words in their ears, and hope it does some good
Dense tracks (off top): Water, Tugboat Complex pt 3, Freeze (make sure to get the version with three verses, there's a music vid that only has two) Rando fun tracks: Grace, Oatmeal Cookies from Lice (with Homeboy Sandman) Nonstop bars: Facemelter, Klutz, Hot Dogs Just a dope a$$ track: Couple Things from Lice (w/ Sand), Kiln from Hail Mary Mallon (with Rob Sonic)
Great breakdown man!!! This has always been one of my favorite aesop songs cuz it feels so relatable. You really hit some good points and made me think even deeper about this one!
The lack of another meaning is part of the point - it's a beautiful affirmation followed by a painful, banal realization. "The wretched sound of mysticism dying" -- As for sweating - it's sweating pitchers. Looking in the mirror, seeing yourself covered in sweat, feeling sick, spun-out in frustration.
When we were kids , Latchkey kids always running out side ( nursery rhymes) to muich to do to worry about , making it home for lunch , dinner , Front door opens .,...Aes forgot about himeself for a while, let the rooms in his mind mansion let go like he left the fruit out.
"Suicide lane ride load ride looting" sounds like it could be referring to drafting - driving really, really close to a large vehicle like an 18-wheeler to reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency. It's a super dangerous practice because the truck cannot see you, and you cannot see anything past the truck, but you are maintaining as short of a distance as possible and have no room to stop at high speeds. I think he's using it as a metaphor for how he lived his life after his divorce.
@Black(ish) University Water Tower and Molecules go together, like a double closer to the album. Very heavy. I'd actually save them until you go through The Impossible Kid from start to finish. There's a lot of fun before getting to the end of that saga.
Please, please, PLEASE react to 'The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History'. It is from his fourth studio album 'Bazooka Tooth', and the second verse is one of my favorite verses in all of hip-hop. I would love to see someone intelligent review it
You're over thinking parts man. Like "who' there simian or lizard?" Would be: am I using my more sophisticated evolved thoughts, or giving into my primitive instincts? (lizard brain)
Amazing breakdown, man. From what i can tell this is about his failed marriage (0 for 1, "i accidentally sawed a woman in half", amicable marooning), the relationship between him and his mother, and his relationships in general.
The part that always gets me is the subtle change in the 'Oh.' each time. From surprised, to confused, to disappointed...
"who's there simian or lizard" in my mind is him fighting with his reptilian brain vs higher 'simian' brain. There's a conflict between a hedonistic, simple fight or flight type thought pattern vs the more human higher thinking brain
Nice.
Exactly
R.I.P Camu Forever
I've gone crazy over the "chorus" bits several times. All I know for sure is it hits me. There's the parenting angle, the loosing connection and trying to "get it out" angle, friends, lovers; there's the fact that he specifies each time that he is pulling them from their environment uninvited as opposed to just seeing them or them coming to him; there's the question of what the "oh" is for; there's the fact that he's talking to animals as opposed to someone who can understand his language; why those specific animals; all I know is I feel it in my soul. It's soooo fuqqing [insert adjective here I dunno, beautiful, haunting, stunning, I dunno]
That and much simpler... Expecations never meet. That is where I get the "Oh"... The natural realisation that goals... And all that "Encouragement" can put undue pressure on something or somebody. A pressure that they could never bear. Definitely right on the Parenting angle!
This is one I have a tendency to listen to when I'm drunk/in my feelings; can't tell you how many friends/family I play this for to let them know I love them, but still feel a disconnection from.
Around 8:25 "I don't forget spoons twice" could relate to the nursery rhyme he starts with "Great big gobs of greasy slimy gopher guts, and I'll I've got is a spoon."
This man must be protected at all costs
It's worth noting that this song is said to be for his mother, and that he has two brothers (i.e., she has "pulled" three creatures from her womb).
"Greasy grimy gopher guts" at its most abstract is just pure "boy" energy. Three boys.
"Oh" is what the parent says after letting the child "go" to live their own life, which they never could have predicted.
This one was definitely on my list of things I wanted you to hear.
I don't think it's the deepest or most difficult to analyze or anything like.
But the writing really does pull attention to a more difficult part of Aes' life.
Also love the visual imagery in the choruses. xD
Same, I love how this manages to be one of the most complex Aesop songs, and then you get to the breakdown it's just him speaking directly to you in plain, simple words in what is probably the most biting self-criticism I've ever heard in any rap song in my life. Something about that was just so powerful.
I love this song so much. It's about him and his 2 sibling and the way he feels about his mothers emotional distance and the way this affected him.
I actually love aesop rock funny enough my introduction to him was from lupe fiasco rapping aesop's verse from aesops song supercell as he's praised aesop as one of the best lyrcists on the game which got me into aesop ( also supercell is actually insane)
14:13 this entire song is really relatable to me tbh (& album... and discography), so my interpretation comes more out of my own experience but to me the "suicide lane..." feels like it's describing the pressure to keep up with what feels like speeding traffic on all sides while carrying a lot of emotional baggage (wide load), not exactly sure what ride looting means, other than perhaps feeling like he's being taken advantage of or "looted" but I imagine someone in the "suicide lane," under pressure to make a decision or move forward with life, and that pressure leads to an amicable marooning, or self-imposed isolation, which is amicable because that isolation relieves the pressure he was under - in a lot of ways isolation feels like a huge relief
21:23 an interesting element on the spoon theory discussion is that Aes has worked a lot of "menial jobs" (his words) and I don't know what that consisted of for him but you can hear that experience & his problems with work all throughout Labor Days and I can say from my own experience that the long term toll that labor can take on the body can cost a lot of spoons without really being visible at all, and that's compounded by not taking care of yourself (letting moonpies get moldy)
33:38 I don't think pirouetting innards is about a hangover specifically - I think it's more about his mental health broadly (I'm filtering this through my own experience - I don't want to imply that I actually know what he's gone through, I just relate to the lyrics) "you were sitting at the gate awaiting spirits and provisions" reads to me like seeing other people as having easy lives, at least comparatively, meanwhile Aes is held back by nausea and headaches, physical symptoms of chronic anxiety that can become debilitating in their own right, and the fact that that stops him from going out or being a "normal" member of society makes him question his own humanity (who's there simian or lizard)
-- you mentioned sitting at the gate implying tailgate, that also fits with some of his other songs ('party over here, I'll be over there" - I think from dorks), that also kinda supports the anxiety read - he feels separated from people who tailgate and have loud parties, and he also feels like they have some special privilege he doesn't, hence the "holy gate" implications of the line
"misanthrope vying for affection" is a really strong descriptor - he wants to love and care for people, but his behavior is misanthropic because of his emotional state and exhaustion and distrust towards other people
to add a tangent to this very long TH-cam comment (sorry about that...), I'm autistic (probably would have been called Asperger's back in the day, but it's all under the same label now), and I don't want to assert anything about somebody else's brain, but I definitely see a lot of commonalities in his music, and I wanted to mention it because I think it really feeds into the social isolation that he talks about - for a lot of people who are intelligent and also autistic there's a sense of understanding and caring for the people around you but struggling to communicate and function in a normal social context
I read the chorus sections as being about him trying to spread love and positivity in the world, but doing so through caring for animals because he doesn't know how to have that kind of relationship with other people. In the song "Hot Dogs" is the line "just not a people person please forgive me if I'm flustered // I'll save a thousand whales before your grits are even buttered" - he feels guilty for not being able to share his love with people, and animals could either be an alternative outlet for that love, or a stepping stone towards connecting with people, but I also feel like him caring for animals in the choruses represents his music - he doesn't feel like he can maintain the relationships in his life, but he can pick people up, put some inspiring words in their ears, and hope it does some good
47:28
Aes: I have been completely unable to maintain any semblance of relationship on any level
Black: "Damn."
🤣🤣
Dense tracks (off top): Water, Tugboat Complex pt 3, Freeze (make sure to get the version with three verses, there's a music vid that only has two)
Rando fun tracks: Grace, Oatmeal Cookies from Lice (with Homeboy Sandman)
Nonstop bars: Facemelter, Klutz, Hot Dogs
Just a dope a$$ track: Couple Things from Lice (w/ Sand), Kiln from Hail Mary Mallon (with Rob Sonic)
Great breakdown man!!! This has always been one of my favorite aesop songs cuz it feels so relatable. You really hit some good points and made me think even deeper about this one!
Thanks for checking this song out! Loved the breakdown. If you're looking for another great aes song check out" the yes and the yall"
Cool, thanks!
Please react to Aesop Rock - Take me to the Basement
The lack of another meaning is part of the point - it's a beautiful affirmation followed by a painful, banal realization. "The wretched sound of mysticism dying" -- As for sweating - it's sweating pitchers. Looking in the mirror, seeing yourself covered in sweat, feeling sick, spun-out in frustration.
Got my notepad im ready
When we were kids , Latchkey kids always running out side ( nursery rhymes) to muich to do to worry about , making it home for lunch , dinner , Front door opens .,...Aes forgot about himeself for a while, let the rooms in his mind mansion let go like he left the fruit out.
Felt had a similar song called The Biggest Lie, which Aesop produced their third album
"Suicide lane ride load ride looting" sounds like it could be referring to drafting - driving really, really close to a large vehicle like an 18-wheeler to reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency. It's a super dangerous practice because the truck cannot see you, and you cannot see anything past the truck, but you are maintaining as short of a distance as possible and have no room to stop at high speeds. I think he's using it as a metaphor for how he lived his life after his divorce.
He adopts a lot of animals
Go for guts
Interesting song, huh?
Try Water Tower at some point.
Yes!
@Black(ish) University Water Tower and Molecules go together, like a double closer to the album. Very heavy. I'd actually save them until you go through The Impossible Kid from start to finish. There's a lot of fun before getting to the end of that saga.
👍
Please, please, PLEASE react to 'The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History'. It is from his fourth studio album 'Bazooka Tooth', and the second verse is one of my favorite verses in all of hip-hop. I would love to see someone intelligent review it
You're over thinking parts man. Like "who' there simian or lizard?" Would be: am I using my more sophisticated evolved thoughts, or giving into my primitive instincts? (lizard brain)